Opposition will fail to disrupt Sarawak cabinet’s solidarity

KUCHING (Bernama) – The Sarawak cabinet’s solidarity would remain intact despite attempts by the opposition to disrupt it over the issue of integrity pledge which they had been playing up, Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said yesterday.

He said while his ministers and assistant ministers would eventually sign the pledge, the accusation made by the opposition that they had something to hide as the reason for not signing it, was unfair.

“Any attempt by the opposition to drive a wedge between me and my cabinet colleagues will fail.

“We are not that stupid to listen to (the accusation made by) them. We believe in cabinet solidarity,” he told a press conference.

Adenan said the cabinet members would be signing the integrity pledge after all the state government departments, statutory bodies and its related companies and subsidiaries had all made their pledge which had to be endorsed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

To get their pledge endorsed, he said the government bodies would have to go through a process monitored by the MACC, and he hoped this process could be expedited before being extended to the ministers and assistant ministers.

Meanwhile, Adenan said certain postings made on the social media had misrepresented his speech that he delivered when officiating at a Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) signing ceremony that involved government agencies, timber licence holders and contractors.

He pointed out that contrary to the social media postings, he never said that the timber licence holders were involved in corruption, but was merely advising them to monitor the activities of their contractors, sub-contractors, camp managers and workers on the ground.

He said his remarks of, “Don’t mess with me” was directed at individuals who were involved in illegal logging activities in Sarawak as well as the enforcement officers who were facilitating the activities.